A Piece of Me Goes With Him
Posted in Commentary, Entertainment on 06/23/2008 11:29 pm by Chris HansenI never had a eight track tape machine; my dad was an audio engineer and I always remember having audio cassettes (as well as reel-to-reel 1/4″ tape machines) around. We had a cassette player in the van as well and on family vacations we’d listen to “Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America”, “National Lampoon’s Greatest Hits”, Abbott and Costello, The Shadow, and other great comedy and radio bits.
When I was 10 years old or so, I stumbled across a copy of a George Carlin stand up recorded live in Salt Lake City, sometime around 1974 or so. I listened to the cassettes regularly until they wore out. Later, I found used copies of Carlin’s albums and devoured them as well. I still have my vinyl on the shelf behind my desk.
Comedians such as Carlin, Berman, Freberg, Williams, Pryor shaped my world view as an adolescent and continue to do so.
Rest in Peace, George.
(photo by Ken Howard via NPR)